At the Piano
A WOMAN was playing,A man looking on;And the mould of her face,And her neck, and her hair,Which the rays fell uponOf the two candles there,Sent him mentally strayingIn some fancy-placeWhere pain had no trace.
A cowled ApparitionCame pushing between;And her notes seemed to sigh,And the lights to burn pale,As a spell numbed the scene.But the maid saw no bale,And the man no monition;And Time laughed awry,And the Phantom hid nigh.
Words in this poem
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- cowled a.
- Wearing a cowl; hooded; as, a cowled monk.
- monition n.
- Instruction or advice given by way of caution; an admonition; a warning; a caution. [F., fr. L. monitio, from monere to warn, bring to mind; akin to E. mind. See Mind, and cf. Admonish, Money, Monster.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At the Piano is in the public domain. This text is taken from Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #3255; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, At the Piano, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/at-the-piano.html, id L24222.
Form and metre
At the Piano is 18 lines in 2 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABCDBDACC. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABCDBDACC playingA · onB · faceC · hairD · uponB · thereD · strayingA · placeC · traceC
- 2 ABCDBDACC apparitionA · betweenB · sighC · paleD · sceneB · baleD · monitionA · awryC · nighC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A WOMAN was playing, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| A man looking on; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the mould of her face, | 6 | ······ |
| And her neck, and her hair, | 6 | ······ |
| Which the rays fell upon | 6 | ······ |
| Of the two candles there, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sent him mentally straying | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| In some fancy-place | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Where pain had no trace. | 5 | ····· |
| A cowled Apparition | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Came pushing between; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And her notes seemed to sigh, | 6 | ······ |
| And the lights to burn pale, | 6 | ······ |
| As a spell numbed the scene. | 6 | ······ |
| But the maid saw no bale, | 6 | ······ |
| And the man no monition; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And Time laughed awry, | 6 | ···˘˘/ |
| And the Phantom hid nigh. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.